Palm-to-Palm Combat / 3Com faces new competitors in handheld devices

Published 4:00 am, Tuesday, May 26, 1998

For two years since its introduction, the PalmPilot has ruled the emerging market for handheld organizers. But now Microsoft is on the scene -- sort of like Godzilla stomping through New York.

Over the next few months, the Palm III, 3Com's successor to the wildly popular PalmPilot, will face challenges from as many as seven new devices based on a slimmed-down version of Microsoft Windows. The new "Palm-size PCs," as Microsoft is calling them, include organizers from Casio, Philips, Samsung and Uniden.

Like the Palm III, the Windows CE- based devices let you keep track of addresses, phone numbers, appointments, to-do lists and other stuff essential to the on-the-go professional. And as with the Palm III, you can synchronize the information in a Windows CE device with your PC at work or at home.

To get an idea of what to expect in this looming battle of tiny computers, we compared the features of a Palm III with the Cassiopeia E-10 from Casio, the first Palm-size PC to ship. (We could have used any of the Windows devices, which are functionally almost identical.)

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Both test units list for $399 and are strikingly similar in size and appearance. Even the screens are the same size -- 3 1/8 inches tall by 2 3/8 inches wide.

Feature-wise, the Casio outguns the Palm III on a lot of fronts:

-- Expandability. The Casio has a port for a small card that can be a modem, a network connector, a wireless pager or extra storage memory.

-- Available screen space. With the Palm III, the area for handwriting takes up a permanent strip 3/4 of an inch deep across the bottom of the screen. With the Casio, a similar input area appears only when you need it.

-- Handwriting. The handwriting recognition of the Casio also is superior.

-- Recording. The Casio has a voice recorder for quickly capturing reminders, phone numbers and other verbal notes.

-- Infrared communications. Both the Casio and the Palm III have infrared ports, but the Palm III's is only good for sharing information with another Palm III.

-- Online capabilities. The Casio's connection software, which borrows from the Dial-Up Networking feature of Windows 95, is a snap to configure.

-- Customization. There are more ways to customize the Casio than the Palm III.

So what does the Palm III have to combat Microsoft's arsenal of features?

It's faster and easier to use.

Because it isn't burdened by a heavy- duty graphical interface, the Palm III takes a split second to find data, such as a group of contacts for a particular company.

In addition, the simpler operating system of the Palm III makes for a cleaner presentation, unencumbered by the shaded menus, scrollbar and taskbar of Windows CE.

Another advantage for the Palm III lies in the thousands of free and inexpensive applications and database files that have been developed for the PalmPilot devices. They include everything from a database of medical terms to major league baseball schedules. And many of the programs can be downloaded directly from Web sites specializing in Palm software.

In the final analysis, the Casio is far more robust than the Palm III. But it may amount to overkill. If all you want is an easy-to-use personal organizer,the Palm III is still the best bet.

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